NPP is not just a political movement; it is a National Movement – Anura Dissanayake- Anura Dissanayake

“While you were on the battlefield, leaders shook hands with enemies fighting against you. But you acted for the cause. Leaders gave money to enemies even when you were on the battlefield. Leaders gave orders to surrender when you were on the battlefield. You are a group of people who endured all that and made great efforts to end the war; a group of people who would not submit to the circulars of the Secretary of Defense and to his small pieces of paper or prodding. Did you have to fight on the battlefield with real enemies? No. You had to fight with the enemies created by our country’s leaders. They created different types of enemies, hiding the real enemy. So, parents in the South lost their children, and parents in the North also lost their children. The people of the South were suspicious, mistrusted and afraid of the people in the North, and the people of the North were also suspicious, mistrusted and afraid of the People in the South. The end result was a tragedy for both the North and the South. If we have defeated the real enemy, the problems of the people of the country should been solved after the war was over. If the war made it impossible to build the economy in this country, if the war destroyed our happiness, those issues should be resolved when the war is over. People expected that. But we had defeated not the real enemy but the enemy created by the rulers. Today, we all have come together to defeat the real enemy that has brought disaster to our country and our people,” said Anura Dissanayake, the leader of the National People’s Power, addressing the Kalutara District Conference of the Retired Tri-Services Collective.
Aura Dissanayake said, “When the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense sees the Kalutara District Conference today, he will have more work to do. A charter for war heroes is going to be made these days. They are trying to give land for war heroes. They are looking to see if they can create job opportunities. They are looking to see if they can give land deeds. Each division is brought separately, and cordial gatherings are held. Various methods are deployed to find out about personnel. They are also trying to blacklist the activists of our three armed forces collective. If you are invited to a friendly meeting, they want to find out who invited you. No matter what the Defense Secretary does, after seeing this conference in Kalutara, he will have to do a lot more work. This force that has rallied with the NPP is not a force that can be stopped by giving various privileges or by creating obstacles. These are a group of people who have made great sacrifices to end the 30-year war in our country, even losing various parts of their bodies, and losing the lives of their loved ones in front of their eyes. But when you were on the battlefield, the leaders were shaking hands with the enemies fighting against you, but you carried on your duties for the cause. Leaders gave money to enemies even when you were on the battlefield. Leaders gave orders to surrender when you were on the battlefield. This is a group of people who endured all that and made great efforts to end the war. It is a group that would not submit to the circulars of the Secretary of Defense and to his small pieces of paper or prodding Did you have to fight on the battlefield with real enemies? No. You had to fight with the enemies created by our country’s leaders. They created different types of enemies, hiding the real enemy. So, parents in the South lost their children, and parents in the North also lost their children. The people of the South were suspicious, mistrusted and afraid of the people in the North, and the people of the North were also suspicious, mistrusted and afraid of the People in the South. The end result was a tragedy for both the North and the South. If we have defeated the real enemy, the problems of the people of the country should been solved after the war was over. If the war made it impossible to build the economy in this country, if the war destroyed our happiness, those issues should be resolved when the war is over. People expected that. But we had defeated not the real enemy but the enemy created by the rulers. Today, we all have come together to defeat the real enemy that has brought disaster to our country and our people,
Some people ask that cannot be done by dividing the opposition. It is not us who are divided. The leader of the United National Party is on one side, the former deputy leader on another side. Those who came behind the deputy leader are now in the UNP leader’s cabinet. While Mahinda Rajapaksa was on one side, Dallas Alahapperuma and G.L.Peiris, who were in his cabinet, are on the other side. Those guys are divided. It used to be said that Ranil is the father of the West, and Mahinda is the father who saved the nation. They pretended to be divided before the people. They made swords out of paper and falsely fought on the stage. The people of the country were fighting with real swords. When Ranil Wickramasinghe came from Maldives, he went directly to Mahinda’s birthday party before going home. When an Indian journalist asked about it, Ranil said he attended Mahinda’s birthday party every year. While the people keep their swords drawn, they throw parties together and do ugly and dirty politics. They are united against the people. They also pretend to be divided. Now, the people of this country are united; They are rallying around the NPP swiftly. These tragedies that are happening before our eyes are forcing us to act fast to get power.
The strongest force gathered around the NPP is the Retired Tri-Services Collective. That’s why they are most upset. Because of that bewilderment, they are creating various obstacles, death traps and setting pitfalls. However, we are working together cautiously and are marching towards victory. Even in that journey, you have an inalienable responsibility and right towards this country. These voracious elements, who stole from war and made deals with enemies, have no right to this country. All they did was join their son in the navy, spend more than 30 million and send him for training in the UK. We invite you to come forward to use your inalienable responsibility and right for this country and its people.
The enemy is spreading more false propaganda regarding the Collective. They say we are trying to build an armed wing. Yes, we are arming you with knowledge about the destruction these rulers have done to the country and why these rulers should be ousted. They are arming themselves with the ideology that all the people should unite against the destruction the enemies have done to the country and the people. And we will win this struggle without jumping even an inch beyond the limits of democracy.
Who violated democracy? When Sarath N. Silva served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the cabinet were given a decision by the Supreme Court regarding petroleum. Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cabinet acted without regard for the Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court has ruled that Maithripala Sirisena broke the constitution twice. A seven-judge panel of the Supreme Court has decided on the unconstitutional dissolution of Parliament in the coup of October 2018. Also, Maithripala Sirisena was found guilty for the second time in a fundamental rights petition for not being accountable to the responsibility given to the President by the constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Rajapaksas have violated the constitution and committed economic crimes in a case of fundamental rights, ignoring the Parliament, which has the financial power of our country, and spending money from the treasury. Ranil Wickramasinghe did not hold the local government election as scheduled and sabotaged it by conspiracy. Kamal Gunaratne’s leaders who gave speeches in army camps that the constitution should be preserved have broken the constitution. Two or three months after Ranil Wickramasinghe pressured the Election Commission and made one of its members resign and sabotaged the election, this member was given a present as the Governor of the North.
On the other hand, they are trying to bring a bill to suppress social media networks to violate people’s rights. They find an outdated police ordinance to attack peaceful protests of the people. The post of Inspector General of Police was recently reloaded. Now he has been removed, reloaded and hanged on the musket of the Acting Inspector General and has been given three months. There are cases in the Supreme Court and files in the Attorney General’s Department against Deshbandu Tennakon. He was the one who came with thugs in broad daylight to attack the Galle Face youths. Deshbandu Tennakoon came with Sanath Nishantha. Those who do so are spreading false propaganda about the retired Three Armed Forces Collective. We are building this collective to oust leaders who break the constitution and build a constitutional country with law and order. We are introducing a constitution that guarantees the right of every citizen to enjoy their rights equally.
What relief has been given to the fishermen in this budget, Presented by Ranil Wickramasinghe? The fish is in the sea; the crafts are grounded. Nothing has been done in this budget to strengthen the fishermen and rebuild the collapsed small and medium-scale industries. No place is given to the knowledge of the professionals in our country to build the economy. However, according to our plans, all the people will be united for the production, services, and development of the country.
We have made a plan where everyone is involved as a stakeholder somewhere. Let’s all work hard. At a time when even the belief in victory was broken, you restored that belief and contributed to ending the war. Today, we are working with hope in a background where all good dreams had been shattered after the economy collapsed. People have high hopes for us in a background where optimistic dreams have died and expectations have been shattered.
The rulers who have implemented big projects that the country could not support have fattened their bank accounts, and the business people around them who have defaulted billions to the banks are afraid of us. So we know they will do everything they can to keep the power in their hands until the last moment. But we have the power of the masses. National People’s Power is the strongest national movement in Sri Lanka. It is not just a political movement to gain power.
There was a strong national movement in India against the British. Instead of a national fight against the British, we had been made beggars begging from the whites. This is what the fathers of the nation did. The people who took power after the British did not build a national movement. The Citizenship Act was brought, and the federal movement against it was allowed to be created, and Sinhala became the official language, allowing for various divisions. Behind any developed country is a national movement that leads a national sruggle.
The 30 Years’ War was not a national battle. We need a strong national movement to wrest power from this evil, destructive, violent, ruling sect. We should all become participants in that national movement. Through that, the new national freedom struggle should be led to victory. We need a strong national movement with qualities such as sacrifice, endurance, not giving up, and resolutely marching towards the highest goals. The National People’s Power is building that national movement. The Retired Tri-Forces Collective has become our strongest members. In the future, the Retired Mika Police Collective will also join it. Also, fishermen, farmers, professionals, women and students will all come together to build the national movement. For that, let’s all come forward and work with courage.”